When Capitalism Goes To War On Democracy, America Loses, And May Be Lost Itself: Anti-Democracy
- 'When capitalism goes to war on democracy, America loses, and may be lost itself.'- Daily Kos, Nov. 29, 2020.
- "People who want to close down free speech are using the protections of free speech to accomplish their ends. And theyre getting rich while doing it, thank you." -
For at least a century and a half, capitalism has been so intrinsically tangled together with Americas government that its hard to think to think of an America thats not ruled by the market. Democracy and capitalism are often taught as two sides of the same coin. Except, of course, theyre not. Capitalism has proven that it can do splendidly well under multiple forms of government. Capitalist systems flourished in Europe under monarchies. In more recent times, theyve worked hand in black leather glove with fascist rulers, and proven themselves perfectly capable of operating with single-party dictatorships.
In fact, as China has demonstrated over the last 3 decades, capitalism can grow at an enormous rate when enabled by a government where civil rights, worker safety, and pollution are considered issues barely worthy of notice. So what happens when capitalism decides that democracy
is holding it back?
The truth is that capitalism and democracy have never been the best roommates. Not only have there always been pro-business politicians whose role was to argue for corporations and against the rights of individuals; as far back as the early 19th century it was recognized that there is a fundamental conflict between societal good and any system focused on individual profit. Even Adam Smiths classic work, which defined many of the concepts behind what we now think of as market capitalism, recognized that the public good was a preeminent cause, that taxation and regulation were required to meet that goal, and that there were forces that would always resist. (Smith also argued that any territory unwilling to contribute toward supporting the goals of the whole nation should be kicked out.)
Its also not unusual that capitalismwhich, after all, owns the chief methods of communication in most any agewould use those barrels of ink to drive the nation toward its own goals. Those goals might include deregulating banks, or maintaining the gold standard, or going to war with Spain. But from the start, there have been opportunities for individuals and companies to place their own good above that of the nation. And from the start, some have taken advantage of that opportunity. So its absolutely not surprising that theres a war going on, every day, between the forces that are trying to sustain the experiment of representative government, and those who want it subjugated to the market.
What might be unique to this time is the directness with which democracys opponents have taken to going directly after the most basic institutions required to operate even a barely adequate republic.
Theyre against democracy, and they genuinely dont care who knows it.
For decades, radio demagogues from Father Coughlin to Paul Harvey to Rush Limbaugh have drawn on centuries of racism and anti-Semitism to promote a view of political opponents as grasping subhumans who are out to take away what you deserve. That theme is still as pervasive, and as supercharged with anti-intellectualism, racism, and xenophobia as it ever was. But the new note that seems to be emerging is that its not just acceptable to undermine democracy, its a good thing. Its not just a rollback of the civil rights era and a gleeful re-embrace of Jim Crow politics, its an open argument that democracy is bad. A claim that even when millions more Americans vote for one candidate than the other, to the extent that they overcome racial and structural barriers already built into the system, that its perfectly fine to just ignore their votes.
That isnt the normal stuff of partisan divide. Its the substance of national dissolution.
At the heart of it arent just fist-waving fascists like Trump, but a vast swath of the communication industry that has discovered a simple truth: It is more profitable to attack democracy than to support it...
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